Weak shoulder socket (or: oh, the agony!)

[xehupatl]

Hello folks. I started working out again a few months ago, and I love my kettlebells. It'll be a while before I start with the clubbells, but I've got a general question anyway.

I started out with a 16kg kettlebell, and am slowly incorporating my new 24kg KB into my workout. Unfortunately, my left arm is a bit of a weak spot, as it likes to wrench out of my shoulder socket from time to time when I'm getting into unfortunate situations. It hasn't happened in quite a while, but today I got a lesson in humility and mindfulness when I used the heavier KB for turkish get-ups. I must have been moving down too quickly, and the kb swung into an unfortunate direction, and then several things happened at once: an inhuman scream of agony, the familiar crunching sound in my shoulder, and the heavy KB crashing to the floor. I knew to keep calm and wait for the arm to pop back into the shoulder joint (and then I continued my workout with the lighter KB).
Anyway, I've got a bit of a crater in my floor, and the shoulder hurts a bit of course, and I'm going to stick to the 16kg KB for my turkish get-ups.
I take full responsibility for the accident, and I should have known the 24kg KB was too heavy (although I'd done get-ups before with it), but still there's this eerie feeling that this could happen again at some time in the future.

Will I ever be able to overcome this problem? Are there any Sonnon programs that can help me with it?
Thanks!

[Coach Jones]

Stefan,

There are many programs that can help you in a profound way but first you need to see a medical professional and/or physical therapist first.

After coming off of a very hectic year of letting my personal practice go in lieu of other responsibilities, I had a similar injury. It was only after working with my LaC Vince Brown and CST Head Coach (and Physical Therpist extrordinaire) Jarlo Ilano that I was able to get the shoulder back on track. From there, refocusing on my daily personal practice of IntuFow has returned the shoulder to as good (if not better) than before.

It's tempting to try and work through the injury, but it WILL come back to bite you.

Best of luck.

[Scott Sonnon]

Stefan,

Once you're finished with your rehab as Coach Jones wisely recommends, I have a kettlebell compensation and joint mobility program releasing very soon. Since you're in Austria, if you can attend my workshop in Haltern, Germany on December 6-7 (www.kettlebells-europe.com), I can take a closer look at your recovery.

[xehupatl]

Thing is - I'm not actually viewing this as an injury. My arm popping out of its socket is something that happens regularly. Not very often, but it sort of runs in the family. Either the glenoid is too large, or the humeral head too small, so the arm tends to pop out when placed into an awkward position. (like bending down to puke when I'm holding on to the toilet at the same time). Sometimes it pops out when I'm sneezing!
It's something that happens about once a year, and after a few days I'm perfectly alright again.
I guess I was just wondering whether there's any way to remedy this bone/cartilage problem with exercise, or whether I will have to look out for it for the rest of my life.

[Ben Waddell]

I had an injury that sounded very similar. It was always popping out and straight back, with terrible crunching and squelching noises, along with extreme agony. Once I couldn't use the arm for days. It happened on a regular basis. Doctors told me there was no sign of an injury after an ultrasound on it. Physios and chiros had a go but to no avail. I couldn't even strengthen it with exercises. 5 minutes with Coach Sonnon at the Sydney CST Seminar and I've never had a problem with it since.

I think I'd essentially trained it to do the wrong thing. Now I work daily at retraining it to do the right thing. The important thing is though that you should take it easy with that shoulder. From someone with a similar experience.